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German retail chain accused
of using Stasi tactics to spy on staff
Tony Paterson
London
Independent
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Germany's cut-price supermarket chain Lidl was accused yesterday
of using Stasi methods to spy on its staff and collect intimate
details about their personal lives, including their relationships,
bank accounts and the frequency of their lavatory breaks.
The allegations were published in Stern magazine, which said
it had obtained hundreds of pages of surveillance reports compiled
on Lidl staff in Germany and the Czech Republic by private detectives
contracted to spy on employees.
Stern said the information was collected with miniature cameras
that were set up in stores with the excuse that they were needed
to deter shoplifters. The magazine said the style of the surveillance
was almost identical to that used by the former East Germany's
notorious Stasi secret police. One excerpt read: "Wednesday
14.05. Mrs M, wants to make a mobile phone call during her break,
but she receives a message telling her that she has only got 85
cents left on her prepaid phone account. She finally manages to
get in touch with a girlfriend with whom she would like to cook
supper, but she insists that her pay must have reached her bank
account by then otherwise she won't have any shopping money."
(Article continues below)
Another report from a Lidl store in the Czech Republic revealed
that women staff members were banned from using the lavatory during
their shifts. The only exception were women who were having their
period. According to Stern, they were obliged to wear a headband,
"visible from a distance", to denote the fact.
Other surveillance report entries included a comment by a detective
who made disparaging remarks about a Lidl cashier's "self-made"
tattoos. He suggested that she should be asked to cover them up
because elderly customers might assume that she got them in prison.
Lidl did not deny the existence of the reports but insisted that
they were intended to expose "possible staff misconduct".
A spokesman said, however, thatthe allegations concerning the
store in the Czech Republic were "not known to us in reality".
Peter Schaar, Germany's data protection officer, described the
reports as a "grave infringement" and the state of Baden-Württemberg,
where Lidl has its headquarters, said it was beginning an immediate
investigation into the allegations under the country's data protection
laws.
Full
article here.
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